Fontenot v. Humble Oil & Refining Co.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana
210 So. 2d 340 (La. Ct. App. 1968)
Fontenot (plaintiff), who owned mineral interests only in Tracts 2 and 3, joined with the Landreneaus, who owned other interests, in a single oil and gas lease to Humble Oil (defendant) covering three described tracts with a combined acreage figure but without specifying which party owned which tract. Humble drilled on Tract 1 (in which Fontenot had no interest) within the lease's one-year term, extending the lease; Fontenot then notified Humble she owned no interest in Tract 1 and didn't want to pool royalties with the Landreneaus, and Humble began paying the Landreneaus royalties accordingly. Fontenot sued to cancel the lease as to her own tracts, arguing the lease wasn't joint and that no drilling occurred on her interests within the term; the trial court ruled for Humble, and Fontenot appealed.
Whether an oil and gas lease is a joint lease as between lessor and lessee when several lessors, owning different interests in separate tracts, join with a lessee in a single lease describing all their property and giving a total acreage figure.